The Art of Crispy Chicken Cutlets: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to chicken cutlets, there's no denying that dark meat is often the favorite among fans. And for good reason - it has a higher fat content than breasts, which makes them not only crispy on the outside but also juicy on the inside. To achieve this perfect balance of texture and flavor, we'll be going over a step-by-step guide to making crispy chicken cutlets that are sure to impress.

First things first, we need to prepare our chicken thighs. In order to get an even thickness all the way across, we're going to use a mallet to pound them down to about a quarter of an inch. This will not only ensure even cooking but also make it easier for the breadcrumbs to adhere to the meat. To take this process to the next level, you can place the chicken inside of a heavy-duty freezer ziploc bag and fling it around - this will help to distribute any excess moisture evenly.

Once we've got our chicken ready, it's time to season it with salt and pepper. These are the foundation of any good dish, and in this case, they'll provide the perfect flavor base for our crispy cutlets. Next, we're going to talk about the dredge - a crucial step that sets these cutlets apart from others. Instead of using flour, we're using cornstarch as an alternative, which gives us a really crisp coating. To achieve this, we'll be adding two tablespoons of mustard, one teaspoon of cayenne, and some Japanese breadcrumbs (or panko) - the secret to getting that perfect crunch.

Now it's time to assemble our dredge mixture. We're going to start by dipping the chicken in an egg wash, which will help the breadcrumbs adhere to the meat. Then, we'll coat the chicken in a mixture of cornstarch and egg, followed by a generous sprinkling of panko breadcrumbs. The key here is to get a good coating on the cutlet - if there are any bald spots, the breading won't adhere properly.

With our dredge mixture complete, it's time to fry our cutlets. We'll be using a large skillet that's been preheated with about two tablespoons of olive oil (or your preferred vegetable or canola oil). To get a good sear on the breadcrumbs, we need to heat the pan until it reaches a medium-high temperature - if there's no sizzling and no action when you put the chicken in, it's not hot enough. Once the pan is hot, we'll add our panko-coated cutlets and fry until they're golden brown.

Now that our cutlets are fried to perfection, it's time to assemble our crispy chicken sandwich. We'll be serving them on a hero roll (or your preferred bread), topped with a tangy slaw made from shredded cabbage and mayonnaise. The combination of juicy, fatty, crunchy hot chicken, cool creamy slaw, and fresh lettuce is the perfect marriage of flavors and textures that will leave you wanting more.

The final touch - or rather, the final bite. We'll be taking the edge of our cutlet (which may have been a little tricky to get the breadcrumbs to adhere properly) and eating it on camera, because let's face it, we can't resist. The end result is an epic crispy chicken sandwich that's sure to impress even the most discerning palates - so trust us, and try these cutlets out for yourself.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmmm I was gonna make a Scarface joke would that be funny I'm excited because I have not had lunch and I'm about to make chicken cutlet sandwiches you can think of them as fried chicken sandwiches except there's no deep-frying so there's a bunch of things besides that to like about this recipe the first thing is even though it looks slightly horrifying right now skinless boneless chicken thighs are probably our favorite cut of chicken in the bone Appetit Test Kitchen the reason we love dark meat is because it has higher fat content than the breasts so they get very crispy but they also have their own kind of natural juiciness all right so what I'm doing with the mallet is pounding the chicken down to about a quarter of an inch that does two things it's giving you an even thickness all the way across so that you also have even cooking and making it a little bit thinner than it was when it came off of the bird means it's gonna cook a little bit faster so it's a quick step you could also put the chicken inside of like a heavy-duty freezer ziploc bag and that is really nice because it just keeps everything contained tada fling all right so we've got our salt and pepper because these are breaded and there's not a ton of seasoning in the breading it's really important to get a good seasoning right on the chicken itself I think it's just really important to season at every stage and then seasoning when they're done now we're gonna talk about the dredge there's a couple of things that make this dredge different from other judges it is an egg flour breadcrumb dredge except instead of flour it's cornstarch it gives you a really crisp dredge now I'm adding two tablespoons of mustard so it's gonna give it some nice kick there's one ingredient that adds a lot of different flavors and then one teaspoon of cayenne the key thing between the first two steps the cornstarch in the egg is to get a really even coating on the cutlet if there's any bald spots the breading doesn't adhere and no love from the crispy coating so like this is a good example this little edge of the chicken was folded over when I was dredging and so that little part didn't get any cornstarch dredge so the cornstarch is there so the egg has something to stick to and the egg is there so that the panko has something to stick to you're like oh my god there make everything there but they're using store-bought Japanese breadcrumbs that's because panko is kind of unparalleled it is a fantastically perfectly dried but not uniform breadcrumb texture there's kind of no pride in making your own breadcrumbs for a cutlet just get panko they're kind of perfect all right now we're gonna fry cutlets I have a large skillet that was magically preheated for me about two tablespoons of oil this is olive oil but you could use any kind of vegetable or canola oil I put a little panko in the oil and when it's golden brown you know your oil is hot enough so I'm frying these we're at a medium-high I would say if you put the chicken cutlet in the pan and there was no sizzling and no action it's not hot enough it will eventually cook but it's not gonna get crispy whew golden brown all right you can see what happens when you're making a video and you don't pay close enough attention and I do I have a bald spot that means the breadcrumb didn't adhere so whoever gets that one is gonna have one bite where they're like why is this bite not as good as all the other bites so second side goes faster than the first you're never gonna get the same amount of browning on the second side so just don't chase that dream it's just it's a it's a dying it's a dying dream oh the toast fairy was here the slaw has already been made why do you need to have slaw on a crispy chicken cutlet sandwich this is juicy fatty crunchy hot this is cool juicy in a watery way not a hot oil way a lot of texture a lot of freshness and then it's not like I'm gonna make a crispy chicken cutlet sandwich without mayonnaise and this is a Pullman if you prefer a hoagie knock yourself out get a hoagie roll get a hero get a kaiser I'm not gonna have a big fit about it you want to use a potato roll yeah okay that's fine you could totally do that the only thing I would do differently if this was my own house is I can't do raw onion but people love it Oh even with the dredging situation and the pounding I think we've been going for like 15 minutes here and that's with a lot of blah blah blah this is totally we can't do a bowl you could get your cutlets pounded out by a small child while you're slicing cabbage this is an epic crispy chicken sandwich no you just have to trust me guys I'm not gonna eat this on camera I'm just not I'm not doing it but it is did you hear it alright fine I'll eat the edge I got the edgemmm I was gonna make a Scarface joke would that be funny I'm excited because I have not had lunch and I'm about to make chicken cutlet sandwiches you can think of them as fried chicken sandwiches except there's no deep-frying so there's a bunch of things besides that to like about this recipe the first thing is even though it looks slightly horrifying right now skinless boneless chicken thighs are probably our favorite cut of chicken in the bone Appetit Test Kitchen the reason we love dark meat is because it has higher fat content than the breasts so they get very crispy but they also have their own kind of natural juiciness all right so what I'm doing with the mallet is pounding the chicken down to about a quarter of an inch that does two things it's giving you an even thickness all the way across so that you also have even cooking and making it a little bit thinner than it was when it came off of the bird means it's gonna cook a little bit faster so it's a quick step you could also put the chicken inside of like a heavy-duty freezer ziploc bag and that is really nice because it just keeps everything contained tada fling all right so we've got our salt and pepper because these are breaded and there's not a ton of seasoning in the breading it's really important to get a good seasoning right on the chicken itself I think it's just really important to season at every stage and then seasoning when they're done now we're gonna talk about the dredge there's a couple of things that make this dredge different from other judges it is an egg flour breadcrumb dredge except instead of flour it's cornstarch it gives you a really crisp dredge now I'm adding two tablespoons of mustard so it's gonna give it some nice kick there's one ingredient that adds a lot of different flavors and then one teaspoon of cayenne the key thing between the first two steps the cornstarch in the egg is to get a really even coating on the cutlet if there's any bald spots the breading doesn't adhere and no love from the crispy coating so like this is a good example this little edge of the chicken was folded over when I was dredging and so that little part didn't get any cornstarch dredge so the cornstarch is there so the egg has something to stick to and the egg is there so that the panko has something to stick to you're like oh my god there make everything there but they're using store-bought Japanese breadcrumbs that's because panko is kind of unparalleled it is a fantastically perfectly dried but not uniform breadcrumb texture there's kind of no pride in making your own breadcrumbs for a cutlet just get panko they're kind of perfect all right now we're gonna fry cutlets I have a large skillet that was magically preheated for me about two tablespoons of oil this is olive oil but you could use any kind of vegetable or canola oil I put a little panko in the oil and when it's golden brown you know your oil is hot enough so I'm frying these we're at a medium-high I would say if you put the chicken cutlet in the pan and there was no sizzling and no action it's not hot enough it will eventually cook but it's not gonna get crispy whew golden brown all right you can see what happens when you're making a video and you don't pay close enough attention and I do I have a bald spot that means the breadcrumb didn't adhere so whoever gets that one is gonna have one bite where they're like why is this bite not as good as all the other bites so second side goes faster than the first you're never gonna get the same amount of browning on the second side so just don't chase that dream it's just it's a it's a dying it's a dying dream oh the toast fairy was here the slaw has already been made why do you need to have slaw on a crispy chicken cutlet sandwich this is juicy fatty crunchy hot this is cool juicy in a watery way not a hot oil way a lot of texture a lot of freshness and then it's not like I'm gonna make a crispy chicken cutlet sandwich without mayonnaise and this is a Pullman if you prefer a hoagie knock yourself out get a hoagie roll get a hero get a kaiser I'm not gonna have a big fit about it you want to use a potato roll yeah okay that's fine you could totally do that the only thing I would do differently if this was my own house is I can't do raw onion but people love it Oh even with the dredging situation and the pounding I think we've been going for like 15 minutes here and that's with a lot of blah blah blah this is totally we can't do a bowl you could get your cutlets pounded out by a small child while you're slicing cabbage this is an epic crispy chicken sandwich no you just have to trust me guys I'm not gonna eat this on camera I'm just not I'm not doing it but it is did you hear it alright fine I'll eat the edge I got the edge\n"